Trial by?
by Auron Belmont
Summary: Spoilers for all of JFA and hints of future themes in Apollo Justice. Edgeworth ponders the future of the judicial system and enlists help in finding a new way to find the truth. Entered in contest on the theme of Balance.


_This my first fic for this awesome series. I tried to keep the characters with how I saw them played in game. Let me know what you think! _

"How long will you be here?"

"Ready to take the post once again?"

"Pfff, defense lawyers across town won't know what hit them with you back on our side."

_God, the prattle of such simple minded people who simply couldn't see._

Edgeworth grumbled to himself as he walked through a city park to escape the noise of the Prosecutor's office. He knew he'd cause a stir after a year's absence, but really now. It wasn't as though there weren't perfectly capable prosecutors already doing their job.

_Or maybe they're just waiting to see if I go back to my old ways._

That, he assured himself, would never happen. Meeting a certain someone had changed him forever. Actually, he amended, more like a team of people, who didn't mind his stiffness and respected him as is.

Which reminded him that he really needed to find that someone and have a chat with him. The one he secretly could call friend named...

"Nick! Why are you just sitting around on that bench! Don't you want to help me fly a kite with Pearly?" A young woman in lavender robes and dark hair yelled across the park. A small girl next to her hopped in eagerness.

"Maya, I'm no good at that kind of thing. I'm just gonna rest here. Run fast, Pearls! Make that kite fly!" A man about Edgeworth's age yelled back encouragement to the two girls. Dressed in simple business wear of blue pants, white shirt, black shoes and a small briefcase, he seemed like any other worker. The man tossed his blue blazer on his briefcase and stretched.

Edgeworth knew better. He walked toward the bench, murmuring, "Wright. Taking a break?"

"What? Oh! Edgeworth." Both adversary and friend, Phoenix Wright started at his voice. "Me and the girls just decided to hit the park today. We did good on some small cases and just needed a chance to unwind before Pearls has to go back to Kurain Village."

"I see." Edgeworth didn't know the story of how they all came together, but he knew the girls to be relatives of the late Maya Fey, Phoenix's one time boss. Together, they formed a neat little family that the prosecutor envied. Sometimes. "Do you mind if I sit?"

"Oh hey, not at all." Phoenix scooted over to make room. "What brings you over this way?"

"Just thinking things over. About our last case together."

The defense attorney didn't say anything, although Edgeworth didn't expect him to. The slightly haunted look on his face spoke enough.

It had been Phoenix's first loss as a defense attorney, but that was not the cause for the dread. He'd been under duress to defend a client known to be guilty and had to do everything in his power for an acquittal. Or else Maya, held captive by an assassin, would die.

No, Edgeworth knew well the look had to do with the inhuman demands placed on Phoenix's spirit: justice or not guilty? The prosecutor knew now his friend knew what it meant to be picked apart on the way to the truth, yet never flagging in the search for it.

They were on different sides of a case, but in their arguing, together they could find the truth and bring justice for all concerned. That scenario only worked as long as each worked their side of a case.

"You finally got me. But I don't feel too bad about it. Is there...something you wanted to talk about regarding the case?"

Edgeworth leaned back on the bench and watched Maya and Pearl Fey, their long robes flapping in the spring breeze. They seemed to behaving some difficulty in getting their kite airborne. "It's not the case itself, Wright. It's just something I've been worrying over."

Phoenix hmmed to himself in response. "Is this going to take a bit?"

"It might."

"Well hang on a minute. I'll get us some drinks from the machine. I'm guessing you'll have tea?" The defense attorney mimed drinking from a dainty cup, pinky out.

Edgeworth scowled. "Only if they have some. Otherwise I'll take a bottled water."

_He can be so irritating, _the prosecutor thought to himself as Phoenix left. Yards away, Maya looked apprehensive as Pearl managed to get tangled in quite a bit of string.

_And yet, he's the only one I can trust._

"And here we go." Amazingly, Phoenix had managed to get tea and for a commercial brand, it wasn't too terrible. The defense attorney sipped at a can of cola and looked over at him.

"Wright. I know well the struggle you went through. But lucky for you, it didn't take you a year to figure it out. Only a case."

"Yeah. I don't really want to go through that again ever."

Swallowing a mouthful of tea, Edgeworth paused for a moment, trying to marshal his thoughts together. "At least we both know what we need to do to find the true guilty party of any case. Facts and evidence on my part and scrambling for the impossible on your part."

"HEY!"

Ignoring the outburst, Edgeworth continued. "Either way, we come up with the truth. We both do our part. The thing is, that only works when we're together. If I'm up against another defense attorney, I can only assume they have their client's best interests at the forefront."

"Yeah. I mean, we have to do that as attorneys and as hard as it is, the guilty deserve to have a fair trial. Damn, do I know that now." Phoenix wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "But like you said. I could be faced with another von Karma or just some other person who only wants a perfect record and doesn't care about the truth."

"Not only that, but there are prosecutors and defense attorneys facing in each other in courts across the country. I can only hope they're trying to find the truth but somehow, I doubt that's how it is each and every time."

"But it's like you said, Edgeworth." Phoenix stared out across the park, watching Maya and Pearl make another go of their kite. "Neither one of us is a hero. We're only guys doing our jobs. We can only take on things one case at a time."

"Hmm." Ah, it looked like the Feys were really gaining speed now. "I know what I said. But I've been thinking about something else. We were very lucky in that case, Wright. I've been having nightmares about what would have happened had we not enough decisive evidence.

"It galls me to think that both of us could be on the way to figuring out who is truly guilty and then be balked by lack of decisive evidence. It's not every time that the killer, thief or robber will admit they did the deed."

Phoenix shrugged and scratched at his spiky hair. "That's how the laws are. We can't change the entire judicial process. That would be an insane kind of effort."

"Maybe," Edgeworth conceded, leaning forward to rest his chin on his hands. "But I think it's something worth pursuing."

"So...are you telling me you're running for public office? You just don't seem the type. Although," Phoenix said with a grin, "I'm sure you pointing dramatically would be quite the attention getter on a bunch of fliers."

The long sigh let the defense attorney know what Edgeworth thought of that stupid plan.

"Do you really enjoy listening to the sound of your own jokes? Or what you think might pass for wit? No wonder you're so fond of pressing everything a witness says, down to the utterly useless details." The choking sound from his companion made Edgeworth smile. "Oh? I'm sorry, Wright, are you having trouble ingesting whatever vile cola you're drinking?"

"All right FINE. So you're not running for public office. What are thinking about then that you're not satisfied with the way the laws are now?"

"It's a little hazy in my mind still." Edgeworth leaned back on the park bench and closed his eyes. "I want to research how other court systems around the world operate and see if they can't be implemented here."

"In what particular area? Laws were passed to change the system to what it is now and if you took a vote, a lot of people like what we have. It's been this way for almost two decades without any real problem. Well," Phoenix added, looking a little sheepish. "I mean, there's problems, obviously, but there's going to be problems no matter what system you use."

"True. But in my research, I've been thinking that with the way the system is now, maybe it's why there's such an obsession for perfection on both sides of any case. I mean, who are the major players in any given case, no matter what the crime?" Edgeworth asked, quizzing his friend.

Phoenix ticked off his fingers. "Well, there's the defense attorney, the prosecutor, the judge and any witnesses you have. Also the evidence."

"All right. We have those players. But out of all of them, who is the one who makes the ultimate decision?"

"That...that would be the man with the gavel."

"True. So if you think about it, each case is a show of pageantry for one man or woman who decides the fate of another. There is only one person who matters and if you can't reach that one person, your case it lost. Thus, the driving need for perfection to always be able to reach that one person." Edgeworth chuckled with dark humor. "Something I used to believe in."

"So...you want more than one judge? Doesn't that really only apply to cases on a state and appeals court level?" Phoenix asked, confused.

"Not quite what I'm thinking. What if we added a jury? Some odd number of individuals who would also judge a case and tell the judge their recommendations? Or even decide the fate of a defendant?" The prosecutor turned his head back to the defense attorney, looking for a reaction.

"You mean how they used to do it in the early part of the century? The whole reason we have the system we have now is because jurists could be bribed." Phoenix shook his head. "How will having a jury solve anything?"

"Ah, but you're thinking of a jury with the old system. What if we added a jury, but kept the same system? Cases only lasting a maximum of three days but with a jury?

"Think about it. It's not like asking a group of people to take weeks or even months of time away from families like before. Three days is not a lot to ask a juror in a case. For most cases, it might be just a day."

"All right. I guess that would work. The question is...why?" Phoenix turned his gaze full on to Edgeworth's.

"Let's say we have a case wherein your client is actually innocent. We play our game, fighting and clawing for the true events. We both realize what the truth is. But what if we don't have the evidence to back it up? Your client will end up being guilty in the eyes of the judge.

"But if there was a jury there, it wouldn't matter if we didn't have enough decisive evidence. If we had the ability to show the truth and enough people saw it, they would help save the innocent. That is why I think the system will work."

Edgeworth could see the spark of interest in his friend's eyes. He knew then he might just have an ally in a longshot of an idea. "There might be other alternatives out there. Which is why I'll have to go back abroad to see them."

"There can't be a lot of countries with a system like that, are there? And does it work?"

"I don't know. I'll have to go and find out."

"Leaving again, hunh?" The defense attorney looked away, back to the girls flying their brightly decorated kite.

"I'm serious about this idea, Wright. I really think it could work. I wanted to see how you'd take it before I left. Because I need you here."

"Why would you need me here?"

"One of us has to stay behind and keep some kind of balance in court. Keeping everything in check, as it were." Edgeworth smiled a little bit, more open. "And really...there's no one else I can trust with that task but you, Wright. I'm fairly sure while I'm away, you'll still be fumbling and struggling your way to victory."

"You know," Phoenix said, eyes narrowing in annoyance, "you'd be a lot easier to take if you were a little nicer."

"But you do plan on staying here, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah. I don't have any plans to move on. I don't know about your idea but I see why you think it'll work. Are you sure I can't help you with it at all?"

The prosecutor shook his head. "Not right now. Once I have something more cohesive, I'll need people to push the idea through."

"Well, look no further." Phoenix laughed. "I don't know what I can do, but I'll help you. Sounds like this might take a long time to come to fruition."

"Indeed. Glad to hear it." Friend or enemy, on this bench or looking across a courtroom, Edgeworth knew he could trust this man to maintain his part of the equation in the search for the truth.

"Hey, come with us!" Phoenix offered abruptly. "If you're going back abroad for research, we can at least send you off. I mean..." and here the man looked a little embarrassed, "it won't be anything really fancy, but the girls will be mad if you leave without saying goodbye."

"I don't know," Edgeworth started, but was interrupted by the arrival of the Fey clan.

"Hey, guess what? Edgeworth said he wanted to have dinner with us!"

"WRIGHT!"

At the enthusiastic exclamations of the girls, the prosecutor gave up. He didn't have the heart to disappoint them now.

It was the least he could do for the people who'd done so much to bring a little light into his world.


End file.
